“About time you got here,” Baxon muttered.
Marlo slapped the knife into my hand and proceeded to engage a demon. The others followed suit, and I tried to tap into my magic again. A little ice power like Marlo had shown would be perfect, only my magic felt so weak and unstable that I couldn't risk it. How could I have pushed myself that hard at the castle that I still wasn't recovered yet magically? I had never experienced a block like this before, and I was beyond frustrated.
Two demons stalked toward me, each of the guys engaged against a single one.
“What do you say we make a little sandwich?” the one said. He licked his lips.
“You want to take her from behind?” the other asked.
“Pink or stink, doesn’t matter to me. Long as I get a hole.”
They laughed, and I smiled at them charmingly.
“You like holes?” I asked innocently.
“Plugging them,” the second one corrected.
“Ah.” I nodded a few times.
The first almost reached me, and I turned around and wiggled my ass.
“You like?” I asked.
He reached out and slapped my ass hard. “You bet I do. Now bend over.”
I tapped my finger to my cheek and then shook my head. “You turn around.”
The demons exchanged a glance.
“Do it,” I purred and then flew to stand behind him, reaching around to stroke his cock.
He grunted and then let out a streak of colorful curses, some in languages I didn’t know.
“I thought you liked it when holes were plugged,” I said, acting confused as I removed my knife from his bleeding asshole.
The demon tried to turn around, but I slashed hard, severing his spinal cord. My magic might be weak, but my physical strength had recovered, and I wasn’t one of those dainty fairies who only ever lifted a spoon or fork to my mouth. No. I climbed trees and carried animals. I lifted heavy. I was strong.
The demon dropped to the ground, and I smiled at the second demon. He glanced from me to my dark defenders, who had all handled their demons by now. This particular demon was a coward who tried to fly away, but Solo and Baxon took care of him.
The threat was over, but how long would it be before they would come for me again? Maybe it was just as well that I had not gone off with Aman back to the castle. If those demons had attacked there, more fairies would have died.
Yet, wouldn’t the demons try again and again? Running couldn’t and wouldn’t be my life, however it seemed it might be in my immediate future.
Chapter 20
Aman crossed over and held out his hand. “We must go.”
“To the castle?”
“To another location.”
“Hmm. Will it be as safe as this one?” I asked, having known they would not allow me to return home but hoping nonetheless.
“Safer,” Marlo said with a wink.
“How so?”
“You can create some protection spells,” Baxon suggested.
“Once I have magic again,” I said grimly.
“You’ll see,” Solo said. “We will make it safe for you. We will defend you.”
I glanced around at the carnage, trying not to gag on the stench of blood, loosed bowels, and death. There was nothing more for me here. Although I had some wonderful memories here, the place had been marred and ruined by the demonic assault.
“How did they find me?” I whispered. “What if next time—”
“There will not be a next time,” Aman assured me.
“You cannot promise that.”
“I do not believe I promised that,” he said dryly.
“You may as well have.”
“If it is in my control, you will be safe and happy all the rest of your long, natural life.”
“And if my life should turn unnatural?”
Aman beamed. “If it is because your sexual desires turn a bit deviant, well, then, I would enjoy that just as much as I enjoy you now.”
Marlo coughed. “We should depart.”
Without warning, the smell of the room and the sight of the blood on my arm and dress were nearly enough to churn my stomach to the point of vomiting. I turned aside, burying my face in Baxon’s chest.
“I will carry you,” he said, his words rumbling his chest.
I nodded, and he lifted me into the air easily. The shock of the fight, the actual battle, and the crash from my emotions bottoming out in the aftermath were all too much for me, and I was lulled to sleep.
When I awoke, I was not in a bed but lying on a couch. The blanket fell to the ground as I half-sat up. A strange design—perhaps a star or rather triangles all arranged rather haphazardly, some on top of each other—had been drawn onto the floor. Candles, none lit, had been arranged at the points of the triangles.
Wordlessly, the men entered. They had changed their clothes, and now all wore a crisp white shirt and black trousers. Baxon’s was entirely unbuttoned, Marlo’s half undone, the others had enough undone that I could see their chest hairs.
My dress had been exchanged for another, this one in an off-white shade with no straps. The blood had been wiped away from my arms, yet I still felt as if I had been stained by the carnage.
Marlo winked at me, Solo blew me a kiss, Aman gave me a reckless smile, and Baxon wiggled his eyebrows. None of them spoke, so I remained quiet too and watched as they stood at what essentially where the four corners of the design.
Marlo whipped out a knife and cut his right palm. He handed the blade to Solo, who cut himself and gave it to Aman, who likewise sliced his palm, and Baxon did as well.
I started forward, but Marlo shook his head, so I remained on the couch, tucking my feet under me, curious about the proceedings. It seemed to me that they were performing a spell of some kind, but one that required candles and blood… I could not think what they might be doing. Using aids for a spell was an art nearly forgotten by the fairies as our magic had strengthened over the years to the point that we did not need to rely on outside sources for magic.
Without warning and seemingly without any reasoning, the candles all burst aflame, the fire blue. The men dripped their blood along the triangles.
"The bonding of life, through pain and through strife, today and through the afterlife, we will defend you, we will protect you, we will guard you too. Our life for yours, no matter the score, no matter if endless war. Nothing this bond can sever; we will protect you forever."
Each of them repeated this endlessly as they dripped their blood, and I covered my mouth as silent tears streamed down my face. As much as I tried to tell myself that this wasn’t real, that it was only lust, that this could never work, they proved that wasn’t the case. One did not give a blood vow of protection to someone they only longed to screw and then walk away from. No. This was not lust. This was something altogether more. Their feelings for me were so strong that they were willing to tie their lives to me.
I was so unbelievably touched by this. How could I be upset that they had linked our lives together when it had only been to the extent of keeping me safe? This was not a proposal. This was not a way for us to be together as a man and a woman should be—or in this instance as a man and a woman and a man and a man and a man should be.
Demons had tried to destroy the fairies and our castle. They had come after me again. As much as I longed to defend myself, I would be foolish to turn my dark defenders aside.
Once the drawing was traced over in blood, the four turned to me. I rose from the couch and glided to the center, my head held high, yet my bare feet did not step on any of the blood. Once I halted, the men reached out with their cut palms and touched my hands and my shoulders, marking me with their blood.
The infusion of the magic bonding them to me seared through me, and I felt a connection to them that I had never felt with anyone else in my life. While I understood that the nature of the spell had no bearing on our feelings toward one another, I could not help looking at them differently.
Mar
lo with his dark hair and green eyes and his sweet-talking ways; Solo and his messy hair and hazel eyes, the charmer of the group; Aman the only blond and beautiful gray eyes, the flirt; and Baxon the redhead with piercing brown eyes and his wandering hands.
I did not know when the demons would come back, but most likely, that was only a matter of time. There was one scenario I was almost certain would happen.
Despite my grief, despite my worries and fears, despite everything telling me to stop this, I was falling for all of them, and I was falling hard. If I weren’t careful, I would love them all.
And then, perhaps I would need someone to defend and protect me from them.
Author’s Note
Thank you for reading Her Dark Defenders! I can’t wait to release the next installment in the trilogy. You all are going to be in for such a wild ride!
Please consider writing a review. It would mean the world to me!
Until next book,
Nala
Other Books By Nala Kinglsey
The Darkness of Light
Her Dark Defenders
Her Wicked Guardians
Her Sinful Lovers
About the Author
Nala Kingsley loves bubble baths and wine. Lots of wine, the fruitier the better. When she’s not writing about strong heroines and the strikingly gorgeous men who love them, she’s probably rereading Game of Thrones or watching the series for the hundredth time.
[email protected]
Her Dark Defenders: Breath of Air (The Darkness of Light Book 1) Page 10
